Build Skills & Get Experience

Essential to Becoming Career Ready is the development of eight Career Readiness Competencies that you might also think of as skills or behaviors. The one thing that all eight competencies share is that they are important to employers. Your experiences at UCCS and beyond offer many opportunities to develop and enhance the competencies, including participation in classroom learning, internships, co-ops, research, on-campus involvement, work experience, or other on- or off-campus endeavors. These eight competencies include:

Career Readiness Competencies have been identified through extensive research and observations conducted by the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE), with input from employers across all industries, as necessary skills for success in today’s workforce and other post-collegiate pursuits.

LinkedIn Learning

Learn in-demand skills with over 16,000+ online courses taught by real-world professionals. As a UCCS student, you get free access to all Linkedin Learning courses.

Build Community and Expand Network through Volunteering

Networking is an important part of building students’ careers. By volunteering in a group, students are able to meet and work with people who share common interests, expanding their overall network of diverse mentors and peers. Check out Volunteers of America – Colorado and Volunteer Match for ideas and opportunities to volunteer in your community!

Internships

Paper list that says "Internship, Practice, Experience, Training, Skills"

Internships are work/learning experiences that provide a hands-on way for students to confirm choice of major and/or career in a way that is often more substantial than a part-time job.

They may be linked to an academic department and/or done for academic credit.
A traditional internship typically lasts between two to four months and can be part-time or full-time, while micro internships are shorter experiences, about four weeks, and are normally entirely project based.
Some opportunities are paid while others are not.

Check out Handshake, Internships.com, and Glassdoor for internship and experiential opportunities!

On-Campus Jobs

stock photo of a group with their arms open

Connect with Student Employment for on-campus and off-campus hourly or work study positions! Click here to access the Student Employment Assistance Network (S.E.A.N.) site.

Study Abroad

Whether it’s for credit or expanding your cultural awareness, studying abroad helps you to learn new languages, appreciate other cultures, overcome challenges of living in another country and gain a greater understanding of the world. These are all things that modern businesses look for when hiring, and such traits will only become more important in the future. Check out the UCCS International Affairs Office for more information.